Is a picture really worth 1000 words ???

A few random pictures from around our little store...Keep in mind the BRAND NEW Lewmar chrome plated bronze, self tailing 30's --40's and 48' SELF-TAILING sheet winches that will be available about the 15th of January.  I paid more for these winches than most of you did for your boats!  Just had to get them for you and believe me, they will be priced for QUICK SALE???  Drop us an e-mail if you are interested and we'll number and date your request so you'll be assured priority treatment.  We have one skipper that already wants 5 of the Lewmar 30"s.  Happy New Year.....Ernie and the great crew at Minneys...

More "AFFORDABLE" items......

All Borg Warner gear boxes are now priced at $195.00 each.  At this price it's a "buyer beware" deal and they may not be returned?  The Maxwell windlass control panels are $89.00 each.  They have an on-off switch and a 50 amp breaker.  The other items are priced as you can see.  Happy almost New Year.......

WE KEEP BOATING AFFORDABLE !!!

I'll let the pictures do the talking.  We feel the HAM radio is a good value at the price you can see.  I used one on my 2 year voyage and found it inexpensive and dependable communication.  We got the air conditioning or reefer units at the Cabo Yacht auction over a year ago.  Hows that for a great buy?  Brand new price about $1800.00.  Minney blow-out price $295.00 !!!  Goggle the numbers on the box and get more information.  Another great buy is the GOLO lift winches.  List price about $1600.00 we have 2 available at $795.00.  These are brand new in the box.  Voltage is 115 AC-they lift about 1200  pounds and are great for davit winches.  Goggle GOLO and find out more.  The ones we have are pictured in their web site.  We still have about 2 tons of 304 and 316 stainless steel nuts-bolts and screws of all sizes and shapes.  We purchased tons of these fastenings in the heyday of fiberglass boatbuilding in our area.  The waste that was going on was unbelievable in those days.  We've held the line our our price of $7.00 a pound for over 15 years.  Just for the heck of it awhile back I went to one of he "big box" marine stores and picked out one pound of assorted fastenings from those little gray drawers.  It was a bit or a shock to see the register ring up just under $45.00 for what I am selling for $7.00.  I probably should raise my prices?  Just before Christmas I won the bid from a boatbuilder that is getting out of building sailboats.  If any of you are thinking about purchasing Lewmar 30's or 40's or 48's in SELF TAILING CHROME PLATED BRONZE brand new in the box, wait a week or two and I promise you I'll have the best price on the planet!!!!!   Happy New Year.  Thanks to you guys, we've just had the best year in the history of our little store.........Ernie Minney  P.S.  The air conditioning units are from Glacier Bay

The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog: Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 lb. pull, 12 Volt Windlass

The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog: Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 lb. pull, 12 Volt Windlass

Sailing "BLOOPERS!!!"

For over 20 years the Minney family owned and operated Josh Slocum's, a bay front restaurant located in the west end of lovely Newport harbor.  It was a summer tradition for the Minney family to host the tuesday night "Wooden Boat" races. For many years we would only allow wooden boats and then opened the race up to what we called "Classic Glass" and finally, anyone that wanted to come out and play was welcome.  To lure customers into the restaurant after the races I started taking videos of the race and then showing them at the bar as soon as the last boat finished.  The racers loved the videos and we had tons of fun with them.  I have over 100 of the VHS tapes and although I took no special care of them the seem to be holding up well.  Getting from VHS to DVD to a computer to editing has been a bit of a challenge but I'm learning a lot and having fun in the process.  It's a bit sad though.  Many of the skippers of some of those fantastic wooden boats have passed on.  Burke Sawyer and his elegant varnished meter boat from Norway, Jack Bailey whom almost never missed a race in 15 years and his beautiful 12 meter Newsboy (formerly Westerly, an America's cup contender) Chuck Avery and his slippery Fife 8 meter Sunnovie (mispelled) and most recently my brother Owen who raced dozens of different boats and ran the camera boat numerous times.  P.S. The gal that played "sling shot" with the jib sheet on Night Wind didn't get hurt.  I didn't even know I captured her little trick until we watched the videos at the Slocum bar.  Best wishes for the holidays.  Ernie Minney and the crew at Minneys...

Farewell little brother.......

As most of you know, kids and boats are a perfect fit.  When the kids are young, you can have some great adventures.  Samarang is a 55' schooner built in Newport Beach in 1934.  I purchased her in very poor condition and spent 2 years getting her to look like and perform as you see in the video.  If you like big boats, schooners are the ticket.  They have little headsails and big mainsails.  With kids aboard and knowing it would be windy in the slot between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands I never even put the mainsail up.  We were totally under control with the two self trimming stay'sls and still hitting 8's and 9's.  I formerly owned the 68' schooner Shearwater which I circled the world in with to small children aboard.

1991 San Clemente island fishing trip.......

 

Burma teak for the price of "peanuts!"

TEAK BLOW-OUT !!!  The days of the backyard boat builder appear to be over.  Why build a boat when you can can pick up a good used boat for peanuts?  I've done several boat interiors through the years and boy would I have loved to have some of the Burma teak custom corners, drawer and door pulls in these photos.  These came in several years ago from a production boat builder that is long gone?  We've lowered the price to .95 cents per item.  If you are doing some interior rebuilding you should drop by and check them out.  Your savings and time will be huge and you won't lose any fingers to your shaper or router !!!
'

Balboa Ski Club Christmas party @ Ernie's.......

2 Cylinder Yanmar diesel engine. $2995.00

Nice little 20 HP Yanmar diesel for $2995.00 reported to have low hours.  We just spent close to $500.00 having it checked out and and cleaned up.  Also pictured is a cute little Kermath 1 cylinder gas engine.  Engine appears new and has probably been stored for the past 40 years.  It would be great in a small classic launch.  It has no gear box.  $395.00 seems a very modest price.....

Seeing is believing ???

While fishing off Isla La Guardia in the Sea Of Cortez I was lucky enough to film a friend catching a fish on the boat behind us.  He dropped the fish back in the sea, thought about it for a few seconds and then jumped overboard to get his wayward sheepshead.  He captured the fish, tossed it aboard his boat but the fish wasn't having it!  Fish jumped back overboard, fisherman captured it again and this time tossed it into the cockpit of his boat.

One man's dream?

The top two photos are pretty much all the hardware, blocks, cars etc. needed to outfit a 45' race boat.  The owner of this gear had some set backs and scrapped the boat after spending close to $10,000.00 on new gear for it. As you can see, we still have the 3 cyl. Yanmar diesel.  Less than 50 hours on it!  We have the receipt for it showing the owner paid over $11,000.00 for it?  I've been using those foam Poly-Brushes for small jobs with West Epoxy.  They last about ten minutes and then dissolve.  Lots of skippers use them for varnish work, I never have.  Great buy on a Torrid electric hot water heater for $235.00.  Goggle it and you'll find it's about an $800.00 value?  Last picture is a nice kid's Western saddle for $99.00.  I'm a consignment store "junkie" and can never pass up a good deal.  Have you missed me?  I'm just back from my little fishing "casaita" in Bahia de Los Angeles in Baja, California.  I repaired some hurricane damage to the casa and property and had some great bass fishing out of a 15' aluminum boat I keep there.  Things are quiet in Mexico.  The "gringos" are pretty much staying out of the country.  Perhaps this new president can get the drug wars under control and crank up tourism again?

Official NOAA Newport Beach Chart- $15.00

Top picture is what the owners of the Fashion Island nautical clothing store "Vineyard Vines" did with a chart of Newport Beach.  They blew it up in size, adjusted the color a bit and made it the focal point as you enter their lovely store.  Pictured below is the most up to date official NOAA chart of Newport Harbor.  To maintain my quota I ordered heavy on our local chart and am running a bit of a special on it.  The regular price is $20.75 and it can only be ordered from an AUTHORIZED NOAA CHART AGENT.  Drop by the store and pick up this chart for $15.00 and we'll toss in a $12.95 booklet written by the former ranch manager of Santa Cruz Island as a special thank you for helping me maintain my chart agency with Uncle Sam.  No, you don't also get the piece of authentic scrimshaw with a picture of the Kelpie scratched into it.  Years ago when scrimshaw was legal, I would send photographs of local yachts to Japan and they would engrave the whale's tooth and send it to me.  They did a great job but one thing they always did was show the crew members wearing "coolie"hats. No matter how much I bitched to the Japs, every little stick figure on every tooth I ever imported was wearing a "coolie" hat.....

Hollywood loves our nautical props !!!

Doing a photo shoot? Filming another "Mutiny On The Bounty?"  Need a "salty" window display for your department store?  Is your high school putting on a play with a maritime theme? Having a "shipwreck"party? Perhaps a nautical display for the speakers platform at your next company meeting? For years Minneys has been providing authentic props for all of the above.  We've even have three Playboy magazine "centerfolds" under our belt!!!  Our rental fees are modest and we give special rates to local yacht clubs, churches and schools.

The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog: Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 lb. pull, 12 Volt Windlass

The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog: Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 lb. pull, 12 Volt Windlass

MARK DOWNS EVERYWHERE !!!!!

I just spent almost 2 weeks cruising about the store with my marking pen reducing prices on items I felt had been on the shelves too long. Rope we have been selling at $3.50 a pound I marked a half ton of it down to $1.50 a pound.  About 6 heavy duty anchor windlasses that came off boats that came in from Taiwan and originally sold for $1000.00 are now $95.00!  These are hand operated with bronze cases and are very heavy.  Any "flat top" winch in the store you can take an additional 20% off till January 2013.  I'm not going to rattle on and on,  Drop by the store for some amazing deals.  Have a great weekend,,,,,,,,,,,

QUALITY LINE STARTING @ $1.50 PER POUND!!

Happy Halloween !!!  Up at 0500 this morning picking up tons new rope and line from a Southern California rope company.  They are moving and are really cleaning house.  We purchase most of it by the pound and that's how we are selling a lot of it.  We are buried in line and we are blowing it out at from $1.50 to $3.50 a pound !!  For you, this means you are saving 60 to 80% off the big box store prices.  A cruiser presently anchored in our harbor was totally excited that he had located almost 200 feet of 5/8 Specta priced at ninety five cents a foot.  "Herr Minney" he said, "how do you do it?  Last time I purchased Specta jib sheets for my 60' ketch I pay $8.00 a foot!!!"  He then tossed the large coil of line over his shoulders and pedaled his bicycle back to the DivBar restaurant to his rubber boat.  In a few days he sails for Ensenada to haul out and then back home to South America.  Got the morning off to a great start.  As we were unloading rope a skipper came in with a pair of Lewmar 40 aluminum self tailing winches as barter goods.  Soon we were loading that lovely pair of bronze chrome plated Lewmar 46"s that we featured in the BLOG a few days ago into the back of his car.  He was $1250.00 lighter but couldn't wait to install the new 46"s while wearing a brand new Minney's TEE shirt.

WE MADE IT !!!

For over forty years we've been helping others live their dreams.  We get several nice notes like this one from Kerstin & Brian every month. Have a nice weekend.......Ernie

MINNEY PICTURES.........

300 foot rolls of PEC plastic tubing-it's in our way.  Priced reduced to $20.00 a roll.  We just turned a seldom used storeroom into an out of date chart room etc.  1000's of charts available at $1.95 each, also we have old nautical posters and yacht blueprints and drawings for the same price.  We have a special give-away book, "A Cruising Guide To San Francisco Bay"  while they last (have about 500 of them) one per customer FREE!!!  That pile of sails is my "job security"I'm still trying to measure, tag and price all the sails around here.  We get about 5% returns so that means about 95% of you are pleased with the sails we ship to you. Also pictured are about a ton of brand new SS shafts for Cabo Yachts.  We've lowered the price to $500.00 each.  I estimate if you had to purchase a new one from a prop shop it would cost close to $2000.00 ??? Also pictured is a small section of our store devoted to paints and varnishes.  I stock pretty much what I use on my own boat and to keep things affordable for the rest of you we only mark things up 10% over my cost.  Last picture is a Cal-34 I saw in Ensenada.  It's name is PIRATA (Pirate) and has two deck mounted torpedo tubes on the front deck.  You may want to give this guy a wide birth ? P.S.  The woman that owns the big rig (85' tall with all SS rigging and main boom, radar mount, roller furling etc) is going to cut it up for scrap.  It's from the 65' Lapworth cutter "Driver".  I looks totally in good condition and suitable to go into another boat. I estimate the new cost at $50,000.00.  Make me an offer of $1000.00 and I'll try to cinch the deal for you.  It's located in a Costa Mesa boat yard.  No, we won't send you any pictures or specs.  I will sell you the sails that fit the rig however............

SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS........

Here are a few of my favorite video clips that I took during the summer.  I always have my video camera nearby so when I see a whale, a school of porpoise etc. I can capture them.  There is nothing like voyaging in a small boat.  In the late 70's I circled the world in a lovely 70' schooner named "Shearwater." We all have a bit of saltwater in our veins.  It was under sail that our forefathers arrived  in this great country.  Exploring our own country and others in a small boat is truly one of the last freedoms we can all enjoy.  P.S.  Please know that my brother Owen appreciates all your e-mails and outpouring of kindness and interest.  This is my first time on "death watch"and it really screws with your mind?  He's totally mentally alert but his body is shutting down.  He has an amazing mind set and only last night we were laughing about the time on the Tahiti race aboard the 78' ketch "Miramar" a crew member lit a giant string of firecrackers, dropped them into a metal bucket and tried to set the bucket on deck as a gift to the other watch at 3AM in the morning.  Instead, the crew member dropped the bucket into the main saloon of the elegant yacht and ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE !!!!

USED LEWMAR 46'S CHROME BRONZE ST

Close-up pics of used Lewmar 46's for a skipper in San Francisco.  Note.  Winches are just as they came off the boat..  If you would like them we'll make the price $1500.00 and the shipping will be our treat.  You may return them (you pay the shipping) if for any reason you find them unsuitable.....The drums and bases have no dings or show no signs that they have ever been dropped.  They must be double wrapped with lots of foam to protect them in shipping.  Have a nice day.